Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park, Washington

Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park and Wanapum Recreational Area are located in central region of Washington State, beside the Wanapum Lake reservoir on the Columbia River.

Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park is located atop the basalt cliffs that line Wanapum Lake reservoir

The native Wanapum people carved over 300 petroglyphs into the basalt cliffs along this part of the Columbia River. About 60 were saved and relocated to the Ginkgo Petrified Forest interpretive centre when Wanapum Lake reservoir was constructed.

Petrified wood was first discovered at what is now Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park in the 1930s. Specimens representing a remarkable number of different tree species (over 50) have been identified, but the park gets its name from the extremely rare occurrence of fossilised Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba).

They may look like ordinary rocks, but they’re actually fossil trees

The trees preserved in the park lived during the Miocene geological period, about 15.5 million years ago. Although this part of Washington State is today a scrub-covered desert, during the Miocene it was a lush, damp forest.

Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park is today arid scrubland

The square frames beside the path indicate the presence of fossilised logs

Rich has found another one!

Volcanic eruptions first buried this area of forest in ash, and then flows of basalt, protecting the tree remains during the petrification process. These protective layers were removed during a series of catastrophic floods at the end of the last ice age, between about 15,000 and 13,000 years ago.

Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park was officially designated a National Natural Landmark in 1965.

This post was inspired by Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge, which this week is Weathered Wood.

Didn’t notice this sign until after we’d been wandering around the desert!

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